“Is the current wage gap unfairly distributed in favor of men because of Sexual Discrimination?”
Throughout history, the equality of women’s earnings in the workplace has drawn much debate without any concrete solution to resolving the issue. This practice is a form of sexual discrimination in the workplace. This issue has persisted because of legal, religious and cultural practices over the years, Over the years men earn more pay than men even though in instances they hold the same positions and have the same level of education. Women who work full time only receive 77 cents out of every dollar that men earn. In America, this gap in wages results in a loss of over $11,608 less per year leaving women and their families with less to live by. The introduction of the Equal Pay act and other civil rights laws has helped to narrow this gap, but it remains a debatable issue.
There are many problems and issues that exist with the uneven professional opportunities, educational opportunities that are available to women and the extremely deep-rooted beliefs that society holds about women working especially in jobs that is considered for men. With so many negatives it makes it almost impossible to tackle this malady. In a study by Janice Fanning Madden (2012), Performance-Support Bias and The Gender Pay Gap among Stockbrokers” she examines the paynent gap among male and female workers in stockbroker companies. She was also expert witness in the early 2000’s where lawsuits were brought against managers for paying women less than men for equal work. Women from these firms complained that the pay structure at the company was unfair. Although they brought evidence that both genders were paid according to the commission based system, they conceded that men were paid more because women were poor sales people. The broader underlying issue was that women were offered inferior accounts that resulted in earning lower pay packages and smaller commissions.
This practice sets off a vicious cycle where men were assigned bigger and better offices and more perks because they are able to deliver on the job. On the other hand, women are not able to deliver because they were not given a fair chance in the beginning, ended up with no offices, no personal secretaries and other perks that the men are given. Jacob Mincer and Solomon Polachek (1974), quoted from a study done by Blau & Kahn (2007) that women are discriminated against because they do not have enough labor market experience in the workplace. Due to family commitments a woman leave the workforce because of marriage commitments and to have children. This puts women at a disadvantage with the men. Even when they return to their jobs, they could not equal the man’s experience on the job.
Women are climbing the corporate ladder, although some critics still maintain that it will always remain a man’s world. Zeher, (2011) in her study looked at the gender gaps in income and explore the relationship between higher education and gender in the workplace. She looked at the possible consequences that this practice will create and call policymakers to make decisions concerning educating girls and young women. She uses data from the National Longitudinal Study of high High Schols in 1972 and 1988 to compare differences in gender income in 1979 to 1999. She found gender earning disparities that were not so pronounced and showed signs of recovering in the 1990’s. Women’s push for higher education is a major cause for the decline in gender income gap in the 20th century.
Without a doubt higher education contributes to gender inequality by both lessening it and continuing it at the same time. Women are able to narrow the gap by obtaining higher education that puts them high up the corporate ladder with the men. However, the high attainment in education continues this disparity as the men go for those college majors that put them far above women in certain fields. Women’s denial incertain universities and qualification for degrees put men far above them.
Discrimination against women still exist to a large extent but has become more subtle. There is room for further decrease in this kind of practice, but there are still those who think that a woman’s place is in the home and therefore she has no place in the workplace especially in careers that are predominantly male. Some of the gaps that still exist in wages is tied to gender discrimination. A woman’s primary responsibility is still to take care of her household, but this is shifting. She is going to college and getting a career that will place her in the workforce besides the men. While this career decision will not completely change the pay package between the sexes, it will significantly change the perception that is held of women in the workplace.
The Equal Pay Act was enforced because of the inconsistency in salary payment that exist between persons who are doing the same job. Many have tried to justify this inequality in wages and have come up with the difference in production between the sexes. It is long being argued that men are the stronger sex and, therefore, are able to do more work. This notion that existed from the beginning of time still exist today. The equal pay act has done very little to address this issue as thy only look at gender pay for persons performing the same job.
Another justification for the difference in pay wages is that men were able to increase productivity based on their level of education. We must bear in mind that for most of the 19th and 20th century women were not readily accepted into universities where they were able to earn a degree. In fact, it was not until 1947 that the University of Cambridge began to accept women into degree programs. While this change was going on men were earning for their companies because of their increased qualifications.
History dictates that women should be relegated to the home where their primary role was to act as caregivers and domestic helpers. Although women have since achieved higher education than men, this still does not mean that they have equaled the pay gap between them. According to Johnson and Solon (1986), the civil rights legislation of the 1960s made it illegal for an employer to pay women less for performing the same work or to be biased when hiring, when promoting them or sending them on job assignments. However, even today there is still a big problem when it comes to paying them for the same job. The perception still exists that men are more skilful than women when it comes on to leadership and managing. These individuals do not give women a chance to apply themselves in problem solving skills or in technical skills areas. When assigning tasks the roles are defined by gender and the woman is placed in the “traditionally-female role.
Women are not only discriminated against in the workforce. In movies women are always given roles that bring out the clear line of discrimination. A woman is given roles that places her in the home, in offices sitting behind a desk or cooking in a restaurant. They take care of the children and the elderly and play the role of mother and wife. The man is made into a superhero and even if a woman gets one of these roles, she has to do much to validate herself.
It is rather unfair to think that after both have worked equally hard on the job a man receives more pay than the woman. They both need to live that is the reason they both have jobs. Walshe (2013) in her article in The Guardian said that the average that a US woman will earn throughout her working life is short by 36 cents to the dollar of what a man will make. Getting fundamental legislation in place will work against this. There are many more factors such as the bias attitude, whether knowingly or unknowingly among employers that must stop. She made reference to Jane Austin’s famous line that says “that” “a woman in possession of a good fortune must have married or inherited it.” New York’s Governor recently announced the Women’s Equality Act, which is intended to close the pay gap. If so many persons can speak against the disparity, they can make a major move towards making women’s wages equal to market rates.
Walshe (2013) The Guardian, in her newspaper article she wrote that “College educated women lose between $500.000 to $2 million in wages because of unfair pay packages.” Women are encouraged not to sit and allow this to happen to them. They are being taught how to negotiate better salaries and to exercise their rights if an employer discriminate against them in terms of gender. Suing employers has also become the norm for many workers. It is unfair for a woman to shoulder the responsibility of suing when she did not cause this act coupled with the fact that she is not being paid enough to exist let alone pay legal fees.
Although statistics show marked improvement in the educational status of women, there is still a marked difference in their earnings when compared to men’s earnings. Society’s unfair stereotypical view has caused much upheaval in the workforce and despite legislations and the efforts that are being made to change those views of women, they still persist. Women will still continue to enter the workforce and narrow the pay gap between their male counterparts. They will still continue to make educational, economical and political advances that will benefit the world economy significantly. The age-old views that are held will only cripple the workforce and make it harder for families to subsist. Both men and women need to earn in order to adequately provide for their families. Gender roles are changing and employers and policymakers must effect the change.
Reference
Blau, F. D., & Kahn, L. M. (2007). The Gender Pay Gap: Have Women Gone as Far as They
Can?. Academy of Management Perspectives, 21(1), 7-23.
Johnson, George. & Solon, Gary. (1986) Pay Differences Between Men’s and Women’s
Wages. NBER Working Papers. National Burea of Economic Research.
Madden, Janice, F. (2012) “Performance Support Bias and the Gender Pay Gap among Stock
Brokers” http://gas.sagepub.com/content/26/3/488.abstract
Walshe, Sadhbn. (2013) Gender iscrimination steals a woman’s future. The Guardian, 9 Feb.
2013 http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/feb/09/women-wage-gap-
equality
Zeher, D. B. (2001). Gender discrimination at work: Connecting gender stereotypes, institutional
policies, and gender composition of workplace. Gender & Society, 25(6), 764-786.
